Not a Party for the Wedding Party

If you are looking for the most fun you’ve never wanted to have, look no further than being a bridesmaid.

Not that I have any experience in this department. But from what I see regarding roles and responsibilities, it doesn’t seem to be much of a picnic. If you really want to punish someone, just ask them to be your maid of honor. This poor individual has the distinct pleasure of planning every little detail of your bridal shower, organizing the bachelorette party, coordinating with the rest of the bridal party, giving honest feedback for every dress you try on, managing an impossible mother of the bride, addressing invitations, and probably more I’m not yet aware of.

Your members of the wedding party have taken on a part time job that comes with no salary. Their lives can become just as much entangled in wedding planning as much as the bride’s and groom’s lives are.

Fiance and I considered not having a wedding party. We simply like our friends too much for that. We also considered hiring our wedding party by accepting resumes and curriculum vitae through our website.

But there’s also something very compelling about having your closest friends at your side when you make a life changing commitment such as marriage.
When it came to choosing members of our wedding party, there were clear contenders on both sides for fiance and I. What prompted countless hours of discussion was the “how many.” Our original intent was to keep the attendant list down to two or four “lucky” individuals so as to limit our loved ones’ exposure to having to carry out our bidding. But each permutation we cast never felt quite right. It would have been like watching an episode of Friends with only Monica and Ross, or Rachel and Chandler, or any other combination of these characters from a show that’s been off the air for seven years.

In the end, our star lineup had ten names on it with varying roles assigned – groomsmen, bridesmaids, bridesmen, and groomsmaids. All that was left to do was to shoulder tap each and demurely ask them to spot us on our special day.

Lucky for me, all of my choices accepted the roles I’ve asked them to play. I’m not sure how this happened; either they had no idea what is in store for them, or I must really rate. What I do know is that I have awesome friends. Thanks in advance, guys.

Have you served in a wedding party before? Feel free to dispense advice to my victims… I mean attendants… here!